Five To Aspire To

I Admire so many Artists!

I am really excited about my upcoming art workshop and already I have homework (which I am totally fine with). One of the early assignments is finding 5 works of art and thereby an artist (or 5) to which I aspire. I love art and artists and have bookmarked way too many artist websites and works. How do I narrow it down?

What would your narrow down criteria be when you love them all?

There are so many amazing artists out there, but I am not a super realist, so perhaps not the artists whose images are more realistic. And perhaps not the tonalists because while I appreciate those low color qualities, I really love color.

Questions:

• Do I want scenes like what I currently paint?
  Lots of green park trees, lots of portraits but some of my favorite artists paint beachy/boaty scenes...
• Should my aspire to photos be similar to the landscape photos that I have?
  I love a good sailboat painting but I don't live too near many sailboats.
• What about structures in scenes?
  I do not currently paint many scenes that have structures in them but I love a barn view, house view etc.

What I need:

• Color
• Painterly brushwork
• Gesture or study portraits (unfinished in appearance)
• Painterly landscape (with not too many greens)
• Landscapes with light and shadow

And still, I had such a hard time choosing artists. For my approach, I reviewed all of my bookmarked art websites AND my saved Pinterest Portraits and Landscapes. And you know that while I have a plethora of artists saved there, it was still a challenge to narrow those down to my aspirations! Gosh darn it, there are so many good artists out there.

Last night, I finally narrowed down my final 20 images to my final 5! I chose two portraits (studies) and 3 landscapes -- one house and flowers, one trees and land, one long view of field and farm. The house and flowers was my first choice, I really love that particular artists modern impressionists work!

Start thinking, what five artists, what five works would you choose as your admire and aspire to? While it sounds like an easy task, it is tough to choose! My husband said it best, "This is a good challenge for you". Yes, so tough! I am relieved and glad to have turned in my homework!